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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Simpsons: Marge, Bart, Lisa Become Foodies

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Here's a situation where The Simpsons would really benefit from a schedule like South Park's. The foodie blog thing is still going on, but isn't as popular and everywhere as it was, at least in the realm I've seen. Too long of a turn-around time, folks. That point aside, it was a pretty good episode. Parents vying for their children's attention and love, hoping to be the favorite parent rather than just an enforcer. Of course, Marge and Homer might be taking it to a bit of an extreme, but still. It gets two thumbs up from me! The only thing that this episode really made me think about it just how old the characters would be if they aged minimally... it's evident that multiple weeks (maybe months) take place in this one episode alone, while I've seen others that are very short periods of time. Of course, the flashback episodes would only take 22 minutes of life, but still... I bet they've aged over 23 years by this point. Has anyone done the math on this? I bet someone out there has...

The Simpsons "The Food Wife" (S23E05): Bart and Lisa earn marbles for their jars, and earn a Saturday with Homer. [I don't recall seeing marble jars in previous episodes... is this a one-time thing? figures.] For Saturday Surprise Dad Day, they go to a video game convention with a live Angry Birds demonstration. [hahahahahaha!] They even have VIP passes, and when they enter we are bombarded with spoofs of all sorts of things We see Lisa play a marching band game kinda like DDR, and the second level is "study for chemistry test on twelve-hour bus ride home," which she likes. [and I had to pause to stop laughing.] Bart beats a hundreds-of-hours game in a few seconds and breaks the maker's heart. [which was amusing in its own right.] Then they need to get from Hall D to Hall G ASAP. We see some screen overlays with statistics, such as "2 lives remaining, 0 bathroom breaks." They throw frisbees to clear people. Homer eats a slice of pizza to regain health. There are funny stats posted when the "level" is complete, like 23/100 nerds punched and 7/10 felonies.

Back at home, Marge is jealous of the good time that Homer had with the kids. Homer tells Marge to take the kids for a fun day the next week, but when she suggests rolling pennies and going to the dollar store, Homer tells her to get rid of the bad ideas. [I struggle with figuring out what other people consider fun, too. Now, I wouldn't say rolling pennies with the kids counted, but I certainly think certain things are way more interesting than other people think.] So, she thinks she's taking the kids to the X-Games, but it turns out to be the Cross-Games, for teenagers and faith, missionary work, etc. [hahahahahahaha! though there were a few notable acronyms - GAMES is Gathering of American Messengers for Evangelical SPORTS, and within that SPORTS is Strict Parental Oversight Rather Than Sports.] They go to leave, but Reverend Lovejoy hauls them off to participate in a skit. The kids say tell Marge not to worry, as Homer will take them to something fun the next weekend. [awww. poor Marge.] On the way back home, the squirrel light comes on in the car, and they have to pull over in Little Ethiopia. [yes, I'm serious about the squirrel light in the car. And about Little Ethiopia.] The kids are hungry while they're waiting for the tow truck, so they go into a local restaurant - when they're selling CDs and don't have side salads, Marge wants to leave. [a side salad as a deal-breaker? really?] She ends up ordering a very authentic dish, and the kids both love it. Their taste buds start dancing and the uvula turns into a disco ball. [I thought that was an awesome idea on the animators' behalf!] They bring home leftovers, but Homer won't try them.

CR: FOX

The idea of being foodies gets them started on a The Three Mouthketeers food blog. While they're not paying attention to Homer, his spirit leaves his body, gives him the Heimlich maneuver, high-fives him, and then goes back inside. [yep, serious again! it was funny, tho.] Then, Marge, Bart, and Lisa go to a bunch of different restaurants, and there's a rap going while they try different things. [the rap was pretty awesome, guys.] Marge is thrilled that she's a "fun mom." [Why does Springfield need MORE THAN 99 AFGHAN RESTAURANTS??] Homer gets jealous and invites the kids to KrustyWorld for the unveiling of a new ride. But the kids want to go to El Chemistri with Marge at the same time. Homer gets sad and goes to the garage to make baseball bats. [yeah... I can't make up this stuff!] Marge feels bad and invites Homer along... so he's happy and builds an elaborate birdhouse. [seriously. I promise.] Marge has nightmares about bringing Homer along, and even Gordon Ramsey confronts her in her dreams. So, she tries to talk Homer out of it, which doesn't work. [was she really expecting it to?] So, she gives him the wrong address.

When Marge, Bart, and Lisa arrive, they're giving mints which will vibrate when their table is ready. [say what??] They start with a deconstructed salad in test tubes, and you're to drink them in a certain order. [fancy. but really??] Meanwhile, Homer shows up at the other address, which is a meth lab... also with test tubes. He takes a $50 hit to get started, but just before he does, the police show up and there's a shoot-out, though Homer thinks it might just be dinner theatre. [hahahahaha!] Back at El Chemistri, they have "Pork Chops 100 Ways," and Marge gets a voicemail from Homer, asking for help. The foodies won't do anything, and the chef isn't happy that they're living early, but Marge and the kids get right over there and she goes inside. She throws the doggie-bagged dessert ball into the meth guy's mouth and he calms down and starts to cry. [um, true skeptic here....] Marge apologizes, saying that she wanted the kids to look at her the way they look at Homer, and everyone (Maggie included) goes to KrustyWorld. [yay!]